Kepler-160, a Sun-like star 3,000 light years from Earth, is accompanied by at least a handful of planets, including one world that may look something like home. Roughly twice as large as Earth, but half as massive, the planet KOI-456.04 orbits its local star once every 378 days (just under two weeks longer than a year on Earth).
Most super-Earths (worlds slightly larger than our planet) have been found around small, cool red dwarf stars. (Because red dwarfs are so small, planets passing "in front" of them, as seen from Earth, block out a significant amount of light, making detection easier for astronomers.)
Not to change the topic here:
Low Orbiting Satellites for Broadband Internet Service Face Headwinds
DENVER, June 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellites are being positioned as a solution to bridge the digital divide, as they will be able to reach remote parts of the country, promising fiber-like data speeds. Amazon and SpaceX, two of the leading LEO satellite operators, are among the key proponents.
A new report from CoBank's Knowledge Exchange division examines the feasibility of LEO satellite broadband networks and what business model is best positioned for success. The report identifies significant headwinds the industry will contend with before its full potential might be realized.
SpaceX's next Starlink launch will boost three hitchhiking satellites to orbit - The Verge
It won't be the first time that Planet has launched SkySats on a Falcon 9 rocket. The company sent up seven satellites, including two SkySats, on a Falcon 9 in December 2018. That launch, known as the SSO-A mission , was a massive ride-share that sent up about 64 satellites all on one rocket.
Working directly with SpaceX has been a speedy experience, according to Planet. "One of the things that was really nice about working with SpaceX is that they work at a very similar pace as Planet," Mike Safyan, vice president of launch at Planet, tells The Verge . "We both go fast, and we do a lot of stuff in house which helps enable us to go faster than the typical aerospace project.
At the heart of the Milky Way, stars draw closer, threatening planets in their orbit
The study, in prepublication and set to appear in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , was led by Moiya McTier—an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at Columbia University and a member of Cool Worlds Lab. She was joined by Prof. David Kipping (founder of the Cool Worlds Labs) and Kathryn Johnston, the chair of Astronomy at Columbia and a member of the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Astrophysics .
To put it simply, stellar close encounters are relatively common in our galaxy, occurring once every 50,000 years or so. As the stars in the galactic disk orbit around the center of the Milky Way, their individual paths cause them to occasionally pass closer to one another. The last time our solar system experienced a close stellar encounter was roughly 70,000 years ago.
And here's another article:
China launches 2 rockets in 2 days, lofting 4 satellites to orbit | Space
While NASA and SpaceX were busy supporting the historic Demo-2 mission from Florida last weekend — the first crewed orbital flight from the U.S. in nearly a decade — the Chinese were making space strides of their own.
China once again picked up the pace of its launches with two successful rocket flights back to back, around the same time that Demo-2 blasted off toward the International Space Station on May 30.
China first launched two new technology-demonstrating satellites at 4:13 a.m. Beijing time on May 30 (4:13 p.m. EDT, or 2013 GMT, on May 29).
A 2nd exoplanet confirmed for Proxima Centauri | Space | EarthSky
Astronomers at McDonald Observatory have confirmed a second planet – 7 times more massive than Earth – orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our sun.
Artist’s concept of Proxima Centauri b and c – depicted here as 2 black dots, a larger one and a smaller one – orbiting their red dwarf star. Proxima Centauri c, the larger planet, might also have a ring system. Image via Michele Diodati/ Medium .
Just a few days ago, scientists announced that the closest known Earth-sized exoplanet, Proxima Centauri b, had been confirmed to orbit the nearest star to our solar system. That’s an exciting development, but now, as scientists announced on June 2, 2020, it seems that another possible planet around the same star also has been verified … Proxima Centauri c ! Both planets are only 4.2 light-years away.
Presence of airborne dust could signify increased habitability of distant planets -- ScienceDaily
Scientists have expanded our understanding of potentially habitable planets orbiting distant stars by including a critical climate component -- the presence of airborne dust.
The team from the University of Exeter, the Met Office and the University of East Anglia (UEA) isolated three primary impacts of dust.
Planets orbiting close to stars smaller and cooler than the Sun, so-called M -- dwarfs, are likely to exist in synchronised rotation-orbit states, resulting in permanent day and night sides.
DoD to test laser communications terminals in low Earth orbit - SpaceNews.com
WASHINGTON — Optical communications terminals that use lasers to beam data across space will be tested in upcoming experiments by the Space Development Agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
SDA wants to build one or more constellations of hundreds of satellites for communications and for missile tracking. It plans to buy optical terminals from multiple vendors so it's asking bidders to ensure their hardware is interoperable with those of other vendors.
Happening on Twitter
For the second time ever, astronomers have detected a pattern in a mysterious fast radio burst coming from space. https://t.co/7btuDFBya7 CNN Tue Jun 09 06:01:02 +0000 2020
Astronomers caught sight of a black hole blowing bubbles into space. Each bubble contained about 400 million billio… https://t.co/1IxwHbq8CE nytimes (from New York City) Mon Jun 08 09:00:16 +0000 2020
Mysterious radio bursts coming from deep in space have a 'repeating pattern', astronomers say https://t.co/CIoLDISVLl Independent (from London, England) Tue Jun 09 06:28:40 +0000 2020
Revisiting data from @chandraxray and the Keck Observatory, astronomers have answered a long-standing mystery about… https://t.co/tmwEFP2Gzk NASA_Marshall (from Huntsville, Alabama USA) Mon Jun 08 20:10:41 +0000 2020
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